Some limiters include an auto gain feature. Our ears are very sensitive to this volume difference - inexperienced mixers believe louder is better - we know that's not the case.

Often, when a limiter threshold is lowered the output shoots up making the audio sound much louder.

Limiter plug-ins also mislead the ear when dialing in values. When working with hardware compressors the two hand approach is instinctive, making compression very easy to set. In mouse and keyboard operated DAW workflows, users can only set a single dial at a time, this is frustrating, to say the least. Let's use my hardware Tegeler Audio Creme Bus Compressor as an example - One hand lowers the Threshold to trigger the compression while the other hand balances (turns up) the Output. With hardware compressors, engineers use both their hands to physically set compression values. This is the process experienced mixers use to ensure compression is set tastefully. The only reliable way to hear the result of compression (after the fact of setting the controls) is to raise the output of the compressor (level match) so that we can A/B (before and after) compare the unprocessed audio and compression. Inexperienced mixers struggle to hear the characteristics of compression when dialing in values - 'is this compression setting good or bad? Who knows! -В my ears are already playing tricks on me as there is a level difference.'

The lower volume caused by a compressor can often trick our ears into thinking we've got our compressor settings correct when in fact all we have done is squash the life out of a track. Commonly, this is what compressors do - the dynamic range of audio is squeezed so that we end up with nice and consistent dynamics in audio material, however, when a compressor threshold is lowered to tame peaky audio our ears and subconscious often make decisions well before we've had a chance to properly listen and judge the compression results. When we lower a compressor threshold we trigger compression which in turn dips the output volume. Compressors are by far one of the most challenging mixing processors to set correctly.

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